


a house is not a home without you

by walshisaweedbrain



Category: The Wilds (TV 2020)
Genre: AU, F/F, Future Together, Post-Island, Some angst but mostly fluff, shelby and toni and their new house
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-30
Updated: 2021-01-30
Packaged: 2021-03-17 03:01:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,984
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29093166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/walshisaweedbrain/pseuds/walshisaweedbrain
Summary: Toni stroked Shelby’s cheek with her thumb, staring at her girlfriend in amazement.“I look at you and I often can’t believe we made it. Because this is real Shelby, you and I and the house and the future together and everything we want really. It’s huge and maybe scary at times, but we’re in this together.”Shelby stared deeply at Toni, green eyes searching for any sign that would give her away but only found honesty and excitement for the beginning of their new life.A life together.
Relationships: Shelby Goodkind/Toni Shalifoe
Comments: 21
Kudos: 152





	a house is not a home without you

**Author's Note:**

> Did someone order shoni fluff? Anyone? 
> 
> I had this idea fluttering around for a while and it sat half-written on a lonely page so I thought 'why not give it a go?'
> 
> I hope you enjoy it just as much as I enjoyed writing it :)
> 
> As usual: 
> 
> \- I don't own the characters or the show  
> \- This is just a work of fiction and should be taken as such

Toni brushed away the sweat from her forehead with the sleeve of her hoodie, the loose hair sticking to her damp neck a reminder of the long day. 

She stacked the last box on top of a pile in the living room and released a satisfied breath. 

Her limbs were heavy and tired but everything was inside the apartment now. 

The thought put a smile on her lips. 

It was their apartment. _Theirs._

She arched her back to relieve the tension in her shoulders and exhaled heavily, “Fuck getting back to basketball, this might be the ultimate workout.” she muttered to herself and chuckled. 

“Hey Miss Texas, you still alive in there?” Toni called loudly from the living room but no answer came. 

Frowning, she turned off the playlist blaring from her phone — it was a mix of Shelby’s favorites that Toni had agreed to reluctantly at first but, as she worked her way through it, she had to admit it was a banger — and stepped outside the living room and into the main entrance. 

She quickly walked outside, checking the small front yard they had — Shelby had begged for it, promising she would be the one to take care of it, and Toni had just shrugged, anything that would make the blonde happy was good for her — but Shelby was not there either. 

“Shelb?” Toni tried again, looking into the kitchen where she thought Shelby might be making herself some snacks. 

Not that they actually had anything to eat — Toni reminded herself as she quickly jotted down on her phone notes ‘groceries!!’ 

When the echo of her voice was not reciprocated, Toni looked around unsure. Did Shelby just bolt from their new apartment right away? No, come on, that was a stupid thought. 

They had been talking about it, had been waiting for the right time.

After the island, and after things had slowly started to get back to normal. Dot joked that Gretchen’s fucked up plan had at least granted them money for life, and Toni was grateful that they could still find the irony in what they all had gone through or it would be absolute madness. 

Toni started to climb up the stairs, sure that she was going to have nightmares from all the times she had already mounted them. Good luck to her not falling face-first in the morning. 

She checked the bathroom, clean and empty, and frowned on her way to the backroom that Shelby had immediately claimed as a study or workspace. 

Toni knocked on the wooden door, “Baby? You here?”

The studio was bare, save for a couple of storage boxes stacked in the corner and a study lamp still in bubble wrap. 

There was only one room left. Toni noticed the door left ajar and the intense smell of fresh paint coming from inside. 

The bedroom had been the last one to be painted and Shelby insisted to be the one to do it. 

— _“It feels more personal. If it’s going to be our room then I want it to feel like it as well.”_ — 

And Toni had kissed her and nodded along. She didn’t know much about having a stable home for herself, let alone buy one and live there with the woman she loved. 

But hey — she was not going to turn down a miracle and she already felt home with Shelby by her side anyway. 

“Hey you.” she grinned upon seeing Shelby, “I thought you were hidden somewhere, waiting to jump scare me for a moment. I couldn’t find you in this maze.”

Shelby was sitting next to the window, perched upon the ample frame with knees drawn to her chest. The bright daylight was shining on her, making her look almost ethereal to Toni’s eyes. 

“This house isn’t even that big, Toni.” she turned around to face her girlfriend with the smallest hint of a smile.

The blonde hair — past her shoulders length after the few years post-island nightmare — caught the light and made her look angelical.

Toni noticed that Shelby was fumbling with the cross around her neck. She had started to wear it again only recently and the old habit of picking at it had mostly disappeared.

After being rescued — or what they thought was rescue — Shelby had refused to wear the necklace and continued to do so after coming out to her parents. 

When Toni questioned her about it, Shelby had simply replied that she didn't want that part of her life back anymore. But Toni could tell that her faith was something important for Shelby and she had encouraged her girlfriend to take her time to figure out when and if she felt ready to return to it. 

“Really? Shit, then I am horrible with directions because I got lost in it twice already.” she landed the joke to a weak chuckle from Shelby.

Something was off, Toni noticed, but instead of jumping to the conclusion or starting to panic, like she would’ve done only a few years prior, she stepped closer and still kept a safe distance as not to crowd Shelby. 

“Is everything okay?” Toni asked calmly. 

“Yeah, a bit tired,” Shelby eyed the buckets of paint, “just finished the second layer.” 

“No way, I thought it was you smelling funny in here.”

At that Shelby laughed and shook her head affectionately, “You’re such an idiot.” 

“But I am your idiot.” Toni winked, happy to have broken the gloomy air around her girlfriend. 

Shelby bit her lower lip and then extended her hand to draw Toni closer, “Yeah. Yeah, you are.” 

Toni obliged when Shelby pulled her in a kiss, letting the blonde dictate the pace and moaning inside her mouth when one of Shelby’s hands wrapped around her neck almost possessively.

“Shit, now that’s what I call a housewarming present.” Toni whispered still on Shelby’s mouth.

The blonde hummed in response.  Toni took a small step back, enough to let them breathe but still close for Shelby to know that she was there with her. 

“Hey uhm… I didn’t interrupt you praying or something, right? Do you want some time alone? Cause I can go downst—”

“No.” Shelby immediately tightened her grasp on Toni’s hand, “No, I was just thinking how crazy all of this is.” 

Toni tilted her head to the side, “Define crazy.”

Shelby looked around in contemplation, taking her time to find the right words. 

“When I was little, I used to think that the house of my dreams was the house my family lived in. Really, I couldn’t imagine anything else to be more perfect.” Shelby lowered her gaze slightly, staring at her white sneakers.

“Growing up, that fantasy slowly changed. I started to wish for different things than what they wanted for me. But even then… I’ve mostly been an obedient child. I thought I didn’t have any reason to doubt what they were teaching me.” 

Shelby shrugged, a bitter sigh slumped her shoulders a little, “Then, of course, the fantasy completely shattered.”

Toni only remained silent, blinking at her girlfriend, letting her the time and space to continue.

“Point is,” Shelby sharply raised her eyes to meet Toni’s, finding love and understanding in them, “that I’ve never felt truly in control of my life, my decisions, my future like I am now.”

Toni nodded, raising Shelby’s hand to her lips and pressing a soft kiss on her knuckles. 

“And is that a bad thing?”

“Bad?” Shelby laughed tearfully, “Toni you are the best thing that’s ever happened to me. This— this is something I never imagined I could have and yet it’s the only thing I’ve ever dreamed of.”

“Oh baby, come here.” 

Toni guided Shelby’s head to the hollow of her neck and kissed the side of her head, feeling Shelby’s arms wrapping around her back tightly. 

“It’s just a lot of stuff to process— they came back so suddenly and I got overwhelmed.” Shelby managed between sobs.

“Shhh… it’s okay Shelb. It’ll be okay. We’ll figure it out.” Toni reassured her, gently lowering them to the ground and letting Shelby cling to her side while she cried out all her frustration and fears. 

She didn’t care about the damp patch on her old high school t-shirt and she didn’t mind if Shelby was squeezing her arm so tightly that it got numb. 

Toni didn’t care about any of it, not if that meant that Shelby was finally letting go of all the pressure coiled inside her and trusting Toni to be there with her while doing it. 

She waited until Shelby’s tears subsided and then some more. Shelby must’ve realized her death grip and started to rub Toni’s arm with a gentle pressure of her fingers. 

“My god, I’m so sorry, I didn’t hurt you, did I? You could’ve moved me.”

Toni raised her chin with a hand and placed a kiss on her forehead, one down the slope of her nose, one on the tip, til she finally met Shelby’s mouth. Shelby's lips were salty from the tears but she still melted into the kiss with a familiarity that finally truly belonged to her.

“Fuck,” Shelby cursed under her breath and then chuckled at her own expletive, Toni was definitely rubbing off on her, “I can’t believe I’m having a breakdown during our moving day.”

Toni smiled back, sweet and reassuringly, and squeezed her girlfriend’s knee. 

“Shelby, hey, it’s okay I promise. I get it, you know? Shit, you should’ve seen how much I cried on Martha’s lap when I told her we signed the lease. ”

Toni scratched at the back of her neck almost embarrassed, “I moved around a lot while I was in the system, you know, and often it was a shitty foster family after the other. Sometimes I was only glad to have a roof over my head cause not much more was provided. So I get this. I get being overwhelmed and feeling so happy that it doesn’t seem real. I get being scared that everything will be taken away from you again.”

Toni stroked Shelby’s cheek with her thumb, staring at her girlfriend in amazement.

“I look at you and I often can’t believe we made it. Because this is real Shelby, you and I and the house and the future together and everything we want really. It’s huge and maybe scary at times, but we’re in this together.” 

Toni pulled herself from the floor and motioned for Shelby to do the same. 

“Look around. It’s our house. Ours! And hell it’s okay if you cry during moving day or decoration day or unboxing day. I’m with you every step of the way.”

Shelby stared deeply at Toni, green eyes searching for any sign that would give her away but only found honesty and excitement for the beginning of their new life.

A life together.

Surprisingly, Shelby started to laugh  loud and heartily  and, after a moment of bafflement, Toni followed suit.

“Oh Lord, now that you mention it we still have so much to do.”

And Toni bumped their foreheads together, stealing a quick kiss from Shelby’s lips, “We’ve got time though.”

Shelby quirked an eyebrow while looking around, “You know, I’ve just realized something.”

“That we can’t have sex until they deliver our bed?” Toni teased much to Shelby’s amusement.

“May I remind you that not having a bed never stopped us before? In fact, I am quite sure that the walls in Martha’s house still remember our naked bodies everywhere.”

Toni almost choked on thin air at the bluntness of the words. In all those years, Shelby had become more and more confident with expressing her sexuality and her desires, but it always jolted Toni to the core whenever she was being particularly explicit.

“Don’t tell her that, I’m afraid it would be way too much to handle.” Toni shuddered playfully, “Jeez, I can’t believe there was a time when I thought having sex in the middle of the forest on a deserted island was my peak.” 

Shelby snorted a laugh, “I always thought the waterfall was much better.” 

“You might be right.” Toni nodded pensive, mind wandering to the past, then she smirked, “Our new fancy shower should have a waterfall setting. We should try it.”

Shelby threw her head back and groaned, “Oh I love remembering that we can afford fancy and expensive things thanks to Gretchen Klein’s failed and totally life-threatening experiment.”

Toni winced, “Okay, for future reference, that’s a major turn off. Just saying.” 

Shelby licked her lips and hooked her fingers in the waistband of Toni’s old basketball shorts, dipping inside.

“You sure I can’t do anything to help you out?”

Toni looked at Shelby through hooded eyes, hands finding their familiar place on the blonde’s hips.

“I don’t know, can you?”

“Let’s see.” Shelby grinned mischievously.

Her hand had barely passed the hem of Toni’s underwear when a loud knocking came from the front door.

The two girls looked at each other in confusion, blinking while the continuous knocking pierced their intimate bubble. 

“Who the fuck is it now?” Toni gritted through her teeth. 

“You sure we didn’t schedule with the company to deliver our furniture?”

“Positive.” Toni nodded, looking at the door like it could give her the answer, “That’s not until tomorrow afternoon, Marty was with me when I called them.” 

“Okay, well then—”

“You dirty bitches better not be fucking on the new floor right now. It’s damn mahogany!”

Of course. _Fatin._

Shelby burst out laughing heartily and Toni released a breath she didn’t know she was holding.

“I’m so glad we refused to live next to Fatin and Leah. I love her dearly, I do, but god knows handling her would be too much.” 

Shelby wiggled her eyebrows teasingly, “Don’t let her hear that or she might move next to us just to spite you.” then she offered her hand for Toni to take, “Come on, we’ll have time for us later, now it’s time to greet our friends before they knock our door down.”

“Call them friends.” Toni grumbled but she intertwined her fingers with Shelby’s and followed her on the way down. 

Shelby opened the door with one of her pageant winning smiles and she barely had the time to register that all her friends were there, that Fatin threw her arms around her in a bone-crushing hug.

“Fucking finally! Listen, I know it’s hard but you two gotta learn to keep your hands to yourselves for five minutes.” Fatin kissed Shelby on the cheek and patted Toni on the back. 

Shelby shrugged nonchalantly, “I do my best but it’s hard with Toni around all the time.” 

Toni gaped at her, “Should I be flattered or…?”

“Ugh stop, you two are way too fucking adorable for my standards.” Fatin pushed past both of them and entered the house, waiting for the greetings to finish.

They all sat on the floor of the bare living room around the two six-packs that Dot had brought, ordering pizzas and exchanging the latest news and gossips. Not much was unknown as they were all constantly keeping in contact with each other since the island, but it was nice to be all well and together just because they could. 

Toni found an empty bucket of paint and challenged her friends, beating them one by one, at throwing empty beer cans. She had barely touched another basketball since everything had gone down with the experiment and then the lawsuit, but she was resolute that she would be back to the sport as soon as possible. 

Shelby already agreed at having a basket in their small front yard, but she had drawn the line at having one inside the house — _“I swear to god, you’d be able to break things that are not even there.” “That’s just ridiculous, if they’re not there I can’t break them.” “You’d find a way Toni, I just know it.”_ and maybe, deep down, Toni knew Shelby was right, but she would never admit it —

When the girls all said their round of goodbyes and wished Toni and Shelby a good night, the couple sighed contentedly. 

“Shit, we even sat down in a circle like we did back on the island.” Toni chuckled, “I think some stuff is truly engrained into our brains now.” 

Toni thought that in other circumstances, maybe with anyone else, it might’ve been a morbid thing to say. But she was with Shelby, and Shelby had gone through everything with her and then beyond. There was no need for her to feel scared about these sudden reminders, in the same way Shelby could feel safe to cry in Toni's arms if needed to. 

Shelby blinked, registering what Toni had said and then nodded, “I think in the midst of horror and desperation we also found something good. And, as someone wise once told me, I don’t think I have it in me to be scared about something that could be good.” 

Toni chuckled, “Wise beyond her age.” 

“And funny. And brave. And beautiful. And the woman I love.”

Toni wrapped her arms around Shelby’s waist and stood on her toes to kiss her, savoring the unique taste that was just Shelby.

“Mhmm… she sounds amazing, you should tell her sometime.” 

Shelby rolled her eyes and pulled Toni in for another kiss, this time deepening it.

“Should we go get some sleep?” Toni dragged her gently by the hand towards the stairs once they separated.

Shelby nodded, then her eyes widened as a sudden thought crossed her mind.

“Wait! Toni, isn't the scheduled delivery for the bed tomorrow?”

“Oh shit, I hadn’t thought about that.” Toni scratched the back of her neck, looking at the bare home around them and considering the options, “Well, we’ve slept on a beach and a forest for months. How bad can one night on the floor be?”

**Author's Note:**

> This is totally what we'll get to see in, like, season 7, am I right? Cause I won't accept anything else
> 
> Jokes aside, thanks to whoever is going to read this and hope you like it :) have a great day y'all!
> 
> Cheers!


End file.
